Champion vs Champion: Arjan Bhullar vs Anatoliy Malykhin targeted

We’ve got a very exciting ONE Championship card to look forward to next month, as ONE 161 goes down live on August 27, 2022, hosted at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore.

Headlining the event is a flyweight championship rematch between seven-time ONE flyweight champion Adriano Moraes and 12-time UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson.

Also in separate news, a title clash, this one coming in the heavyweight division between ONE heavyweight champion Arjan Bhullar and interim ONE heavyweight champion Anatoliy Malykhin is being targeted for an upcoming card on Amazon Prime.

This is an incredibly exciting encounter between two of the very best ONE Championship has to offer.

Arjan Bhullar is a UFC veteran who held a promotional record of 3-1, seeing him win his last two bouts, prior to being released. He’s fought just twice since then but has already captured gold in his most recent victory where he stopped (TKO) then ONE heavyweight champion, and former WEC heavyweight champion Brandon Vera to claim the title back in April of 2021.

Contract disputes have kept Bhullar from defending his title over the last year, thus the reason ONE decided on making an interim heavyweight title fight, a fight that Anatoliy Malykhin won with a vicious KO victory.

Malykhin is an absolute finisher, having defeated all 11 of his opponents inside the distance with eight knockouts and three submissions. Bhullar’s lone defeat came via submission, he’ll definitely have to be mindful in that area, because we know he’s going to come out and look for the takedown.

Bhullar’s wrestling aided him in winning the BFL heavyweight championship prior to joining the UFC, it’s what won him the ONE heavyweight championship, and it’s also what won him a number of wrestling tournaments, such as the Commonwealth Games, as well as two NAIA national championships.

Though he’s not quite the finisher Malykhin is, boasting seven of his 11 wins via decision with four knockouts, he has been very dominant throughout his career.

Who do you see coming out of this potential champion versus champion clash?

If you enjoyed this piece, feel free to share it on social media!

Brady Ordway

I became a fan of combat sports when I was 12 years old. I was scrolling through the channels and landed upon Versus, where WEC was televised. Urijah Faber fought Jens Pulver for the second time that night. That's the first fight I ever saw, and I was immediately hooked. So eventually, I began covering the sport in the fourth quarter of 2018, and have since started writing about animals as well. If you'd like to see those pieces, be sure to check out learnaboutnature.com!

See Full Bio